Big like Mommy and Daddy

I told you I'd be posting them!  Actually that's WHY I told you I'd post them.  Once I put it on the blog, I HAD to do it.  I couldn't make a liar of myself!

Neither of the kids were very into dressing up this time, so I had a hard time pulling any smiles out of them.  As I'm experimenting and learning how to take my pictures in RAW format I'm having a hard time getting things set just right so I can get clearly focused pictures of my kids, in a hurry.  They don't sit still at all!  So when I am adjusting my settings so I don't need to use a flash, I struggle with getting the shutter speed fast enough.  I'm learning though.  Slowly!  I think the manual stuff will be easier to use outside, rather than in my 'studio'.  But I haven't tried to corral the kids into a photo shoot outside yet this year.  I should get on it or the new calendar is going to sneak up on me and I won't have anything ready for it.  (For those who might not know, I put together a calendar of the kids, and Jen's kids, for the grandparents and us every year.)  On that note, I'll leave you with these pictures of our precious children.

 She is actually freaking out here and trying to get the dress off.

 Laughing gleefully that he successfully got one arm out of the jacket,

regardless of my begging him to stay in it and stay still.

 

Hope you enjoyed these pictures even half as much as I do!

2 and Beautiful

And because no birthday is complete around here without a photo session, here are Kindi's two year pictures!  Edited with my new Wish photoshop actions.  I have taken my wedding dress pictures as well so hopefully I'll get those edited and posted soon too.

I didn't actually use any actions on this one, she is making a funny face, but it is one of very few that you can actually see her teeth.  Or the lack of top front teeth anyways.  When she was just itty bitty, 7 months I believe, she chipped her front right tooth.  She had developed a really bad habit when she was mad of slamming whatever object she could get her hands on into her mouth.  At least that's what I assume she did to bust it.
Well a few weeks ago we were playing over at Mom's house and mom asked me if Kindi had chipped a tooth.  I blew it off, Oh yeah, she did that forever ago.  Later that afternoon we were playing at home and Kindi growled at me and I did a double take.  Wait a minute?!  Where is her tooth?  Sometime in the last day?  Maybe two days?  She had broke off her left front tooth, not quite at the gums.  I have no idea when she did, or how she did it.  The only thing I could think of is that maybe she had fractured it on one of her recent falls?  I did remember her hitting her face on the coffee table a few days before.  So maybe she had fractured it and then it just snapped off later?  She didn't throw any massive fits like you would expect from breaking a tooth.  It is still a mystery.  Now sadly she will have to wait to get her two front teeth until her adult ones come in.  Sheesh!

Kindi's a sentimental little thing.  She has never been the cuddler that Kaden is, but lately she has decided she loves to have mommy sit on the couch with her to snuggle.  She is always coming to me with her blanky, binky and baby begging me to come sit on the couch and snuggle with her.  I wish I could type it so you could hear the way she says it.  It's something to the effect of 'chungel', but since you haven't heard it before you probably didn't say it quite right in your head!  But let me tell you, if she ever asks you to snuggle with her, you won't be able to say no!

One of her most favorite sayings is 'Love you MUCH!'.  The first time she said it to me it shocked me and melted my heart!  I had just put her in bed and finished singing her a song when she cheerfully told me, 'Love you MUCH!'.  I had no idea where she got that from, until the next night when I realized that I had been saying it to her for months.  After singing to her I would say, 'Goodnight princess, I love you very much.'  Obviously she had been paying attention.  Talk about precious!

My beautiful Kindi.  She is the sweetest, cutest little thing.  She has a temper that is going to try my patience as she gets older.  She's incredibly smart and picks up on everything around her.  She adores her brother, and often calls him Boy.  (Due to playing puppies a time too many I guess.)  She is usually obedient, but once in awhile she bares her stubborn streak and I cringe thinking about her teen years.  And she is such an amazing blessing sent straight from God.  I pray daily that God will give me the wisdom I need to be the mother she needs.  Nothing could be worse than to watch a child walk away from God, so that is where my prayers are focused.  Please Lord give me the wisdom to raise her (and Kaden) to know and love you with all their beings.

Happy Birthday Kindi Kae!

My sweet little baby is two.  TWO!  I can't believe how fast time moves.  I realize I say that about as often as I remember to post to this blog... but I can't help it.  Whenever I stop to think about how old my kids are getting I can't fathom how it happened!
We had a mini birthday party for her at my parents house Sunday after church.

Kindi was so cute while opening her presents.  She quickly and efficiently tore a present open, exclaimed over it (My Jammies!  My book!  My Baby Blankie!) and then promptly set it off to the side in a pile.  Okay, actually she SET the first few in a pile, then she just chucked the rest onto the pile.  She obviously didn't have enough time to be neat about it.

Kaden did a good job with letting Kindi open her own presents, but he stuck pretty close to check things out.  Here he is demonstrating how to use her new Farm Faces book.

Kindi was quite impressed with her new 'pincess' (aka princess) chair.  She has a hard time getting all the way into it, so she ends up reclined with her feet either in the air or propped up on the seat.

Grandma got her a balance bike.  She is just barely too short for it right now, but she should be able to start using it before summer ends.  I'd never heard of a balance bike before.  They don't have training wheel, and they don't have pedals.  They are supposed to push themselves with their feet and as they get better they can pick up their feet and coast.  It is to help them learn how to balance on two wheels, supposedly it makes it a lot easier for kids to learn to ride a two wheel bike.  Learning to pedal is a lot easier than learning to balance.
Maybe it will help Kaden develop some balance.

Kindi's favorite movie right now is 'Monkey George', or Curious George as he is more commonly known.  So I made her a monkey cake.  She was thrilled.

She's all about blowing out those candles.  Deep breath!

Then lean right in and try not to burn your nose!

On Monday (Kindi's actual birthday) Jeremy brought two purple carnations home for Kindi.  She was in awe over her flowers.  She carried them around most of the evening and was excited to see them again the next day.  I told Jeremy that he'd just started a tradition, which he had already figured out.  It will be fun to see how she looks forward to her birthday flowers from daddy as she grows.

3 and handsome as can be.

Well since I was going to post about Kindi's birthday, I figured I had better post about Kaden being 3 first!  So here he is.  My son is no longer a baby, he is definitely a little boy now.  As much as I like to pretend he isn't growing up at the speed of light, I can't stop him.  But I am continually amazed at how he just gets more and more fun.  And funnier!  He has such a cute sense of humor, and the things he says sometimes!

The men in Jeremy's family all wink.  And they all do it exactly the same.  It's a little bit eerie when you experience it for the first time.  Kaden, being a Wells male, has officially started his training in the art of winking.  He has a ways to go to match his Daddy, but golly is he ever cute when he tries.  He has to squint both eyes shut, then open his right eye.  He's quite proud of his accomplishment though.

The other day Kaden was trying to get Daddy to play with him.  He'd followed him into the kitchen and was pulling on him, but Jeremy had to go to the bathroom.  Kaden watched him go in and close the door then he ran over to the door and started pounding on it with both fists.  "I know you're in there!", he hollered.  Where does he get this stuff!?

As crazy and rambunctious as he is, Kaden is also so sweet.  He is always hunting me down for a long hug, he loves it when we sit with him on the couch to watch a movie, and I can always count on him for a kiss.  I love those moments, nothing beats an unprompted 'Mama?  I love you!'.   What a blessing he is!

I have recently upgraded my editing software to Elements 10 and purchased some editing actions from Wish Photography.  She is always doing great sales and giving away extra products.  So this is the first time I have really had a chance to play with her actions.  She also puts out some great tutorials and I have learned the benefits of shooting in RAW mode (as apposed to the common JPEG) and using manual settings.  Hopefully my photography will start showing some improvements, I know I am enjoying learning to use these new things.  And they make editing more fun, easier, and I feel like my images are turning out a little bit more 'professional'.  I've always struggled when shooting 'in studio', and these last sessions with my kids were so much easier.  Now if I can just get them to sit still!

Lambing Barns

Well since I'm terrible at keeping my blog up to date I didn't post about last years trip to the Wahl family lambing barns, but I did in 2010 .  I posted it in May, but we must have gone just a couple of weeks before Kindi was born.  Last year Kindi was not quite one, so it was difficult for her to get around in the hay, but this year she was all over the place.  (I refuse to admit that she will be two on Monday!)  The kids loved to hang out in the bummer lamb pin.  (Bummer lambs don't have a mommy and are bottle fed until they can be grafted onto a ewe.)    Kindi would go in and start 'Maaaaaa'-ing at the lambs expecting them to come to her.  She kept freaking out and bawling, but it wasn't until we went back the next day that I realized it was because she was mad that the sheep weren't obeying her.  She was telling them to come to her so she could hold and pet them, but sheep are not very obedient creatures.  It really upset her!

Willing the lamb to come to her!

Kaden didn't wait for the lambs to come to him.  He just plowed in and picked them right up.  The tricky part was getting him to watch out for the other lambs sleeping in the pin.

She was so excited when I pulled one of the lambs out for her to hold.

Kaden watched me feed one of the lambs, but wasn't content to help me hold the bottle.  Here he is trying to wrestle a lamb into eating.  He was not successful.

When he got tired of the lambs he decided to throw hay.

And lay down and roll in the hay.

Then a couple of the girls brought out the puppies!  Oh my!  We were all three in love.  I'm seriously wanting a puppy right now.  Watching how much the kids enjoyed loving on the puppy was so much fun.  They were both so sweet.

Look Mom, a puppy!

He looks so much like a little boy these days.  His baby face is pretty much gone.

Such a gentle puppy.  He didn't mind one bit that Kindi was carrying him like a sack of potatoes.

Kaden couldn't get enough of the puppy.  He cuddled, and played and giggled.

Making friends.

Is this precious or what?!

Tomato Soup

Awhile back I made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch, sure that the kids would love the sandwiches and turn up their noses at the soup.  Or at the very least only use it to dip their sandwiches in.  Guess what?  Kaden didn't even touch his sandwich, and Kindi barely did.  Kaden LOVES tomato soup.  He will sit down and eat half a can sometimes.  He tells me it's 'Delicious'.  I just wish I could type it the way he says it.  I love it!  It makes me smile every time!  

Yep, Kaden loves to eat his tomato soup...

Kindi on the other hand...

 She likes to wear hers!

Easter

Hello all,

I'm still around, and I even remembered the password to get into this account.  Yay for me.  I realize I'm pretty much the worlds worst blogger, but I never promised I'd be very good at it.  So on with the good stuff!

I love getting the whole family dressed up in coordinating outfits for church.  So much so that I actually wore a bit of pink!  Just a bit mind you.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the shirt under my jacket is pink and my necklace and earrings are pinkish.  I also painted my toenails pink.  And Kindi's to match.  That was quite the experience for her.  She loved it and yet was so nervous about it.  The whole time I was painting them she was fidgeting and giving me that nervous giggle sound.  You know, the one that you try so hard to avoid when you are at the doctor for something embarrassing.  Yeah, that one.

When I tried to paint our finger nails to match she got really excited and handed me her finger, until I pulled the brush out of the bottle.  I don't know what she thought it was, or was going to do to her, but as soon as I pulled it out of the bottle she would freak out and yank her hand away, hiding it under her chin or in her mouth.  I tried to paint mine, but after the fourth attempt being ruined by immediately having to help Kindi go potty or help Kaden button his pants... I gave up!

We even got Jeremy in pink!  What a gorgeous family!

Malaki, Lillie, Kaden and Kindi show off their finery.  

(Kori was having special Mommy time.)

 Hunting eggs.

 What a handsome little boy.  Where did my chunky baby go?!

 Don't ever put your chocolate down around Kindi.  She'll snatch it up and be gone before you know it!

Finger Paints and Oh My!

 The kids got to make the wrapping paper for Daddy's birthday present. 

I forgot to take a picture of the present though...  We put a poem about walking in Daddy's footsteps in a 10x13 frame and they each got to put a footprint on it too.   They loved getting to do that, so I got out the finger paints that I got them for Easter and hadn't let them use yet.  Basically because I'm lazy and didn't feel like cleaning up afterwards.  But for Daddy's birthday I decided to go for it.  They had so much fun and the paper turned out great.  In fact after wrapping the frame up it looked like a modern art canvas instead of a wrapped present.  So now I have a fun idea of making a collage of 'canvases' to hang in my kitchen.  This week is way to busy to attempt that though, so that will be coming later, and I will try to get pictures up as soon as we do it.

 Kaden really enjoyed the finger paints and he worked and worked at his pictures, drawing lines and 'round' aka circles.

 Kindi didn't really get that she was supposed to put the paint on the paper.  She really enjoyed playing with it and wiping it on her legs, or sticking her feet in it though.  She started to get more into it when I started painting her hands and having her hit the paper instead.  She is a touch on the violent side!

And just in case you are having a bad day and need something to laugh at:

I stepped outside and didn't see Kaden anywhere until I looked in the corner under a tree and saw this.

  At least he didn't potty his pants!

Kindi's Professional Cake Smash

 Look at my cutie pie!  She looks just like a little dolly!  A local photographer, Brandi Varnell, was looking for some 1 year old volunteers to come and destroy a cake in her studio so she could add some cake smash pictures to her portfolio.  (I have been watching for them, but so far I don't see any of the 3 cake smashes she did that weekend on her website.)  I of course hmmm'd and hawed and debated for all of 1/2 a second before I spouted out, Kindi will be one in a couple of weeks!  We'll do it!  Gotta love FaceBook and the unique opportunities it gives us.  I had never met Brandi, but she did some family pictures for a family I know and love so I 'liked' her on FB so I could see the pictures.  She is so creative.  I love all the fun contests that she does and her photography is always beautiful and touching.  Being the poor family that we are (okay, we aren't really poor, but with only one income we have to be careful how we spend our money) we have never been able to afford to get our pictures done by an established professional before.   We have been so blessed to have Heather come and take pictures for us with Kindi and she does a terrific job, but it isn't quite the same.

Such a regal looking princess!

 I had so much fun 'working' with Brandi, because if you have ever tried to take pictures of children you know it takes more than one person to be very successful.  Especially if they are not your kids.  I do fine by myself with my kids, but if I wasn't there to help Brandi, Kindi would have just been a hysterical disaster crying in the corner.  Brandi has some really cute props, I would love to have the pink chair in my stash!  She had a sweet little princess crown and an adorable green (The coolest color ever.) tutu with a matching hair clip.

 The cake was from the new bakery here in town, 4 Sisters Bakery, Brandi even sent them a picture of Kindi taking her cake eating very seriously on facebook.  It was a beautiful cake!  It was even strawberry flavored so that it was pink!  There was too much frosting for my taste, but then I don't really like more then a thin layer on the top.  So any cake, even ones I make, that are decorated all pretty, has too much frosting for me.

 Kindi started off by gently poking her finger into the cake and licking the frosting off, but you can see that that didn't last!  She was cracking me up though.  She would take a bite then wipe her face with her hand, pretending that she didn't like to get dirty!  Most of you don't see Kindi as she usually is because I typically change her 2 seconds before walking out the door, and put a bib on her in the car which I rip off as I get her out.  But if you were to show up to my house unexpectedly you would likely catch her with some sort of food running down her shirt, mixed with the drool ring that goes to her belly button.  Residue of something sticky that she found and shoved into her mouth on her hands and face, and hair either in her eyes or sticking up like she had been electrocuted!  Oh man, now my secret is out!

 There is something special about baby feet!

We worked and worked with Kindi getting her to smile (eating cake is serious business you know) and play a little.  We jumped up and down, danced and sang.  She had a great time until Brandi told her to try to pick up the cake.  Oh man did she get mad when she couldn't do it!!!  The session ended after that.  My Kindi girl has developed a fiery temper!
It was so hard to narrow down the 30 or so pictures and pick my favorite 5.  Since we came to help Brandi out she gave us a disc for free with 5 pictures of our choice.  We could pay for more if we wanted, but we stuck with the 5.

Our bonus picture!  Kindi's classic froggy pose.

But when Brandi showed up at my door with our CD (so sweet of her to surprise me and hand deliver it), she had put one extra picture on it as a bonus.  I was so excited because this picture was the last one I had eliminated and I had agonized over it!
After the session while I was getting Kindi cleaned up and dressed, Brandi was so sweet to share lots of photography tips with me.  She even invited me to come and be a second shooter at some weddings this summer!  I had told her that I've been asked to do 3 weddings but chickened out each time and begged them to find someone else.  So she offered to let me come and get some experience.  It would be a great ice breaker for me.  A chance to get some wedding photography in and if I totally blew it at least they would have all the beautiful pictures that Brandi took!  I think that would really help me to relax.  I'm hoping that I do get an opportunity to go help her out.  How fun!